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Well-Known Member

I've heard different context opinions on this verse. To me it clearly says not to cut and tattoo your body.

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To take that verse to mean that literally and still apply today, wouldn't you also have to believe that you couldn't trim the corners of your beard, as it says in the verse prior? Or that you can't eat anything with blood, as it says in the same paragraph? You either have to believe it all, or believe it was done away with. You can't pick and choose.

On the subject of being the temple of Christ, my drill sergeant said something that stuck with me. Didn't they decorate the temple with cloth and gold?

To me, it's a personal preference. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I personally have never seen a tattoo on a woman that I thought enhanced her beauty.

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Well-Known Member

I've heard different context opinions on this verse. To me it clearly says not to cut and tattoo your body.

Later on paul teaches our bodies belong to Christ. So why damage and disfigure Christs property

I have a tattoo of an American revolution flag on my arm. I was not saved when I done this. Being a Christian now I would never disfigure my body

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Do you also have sideburns to "mark" you as righteous man? Do you wear a beard? The same chapter in Leviticus that mentions marking the body says that men cannot cut the hair on the side of their face not trim their beards.

Do you have any cotton/polyester blend clothes. The same chapter says you can't do that.

Are you in agreement immigration laws keeping foreigners regulated and at bay? The same chapter in Leviticus says that all foreigners into your country must be welcomed.

Is nobody going to take up Tom's challenge of exegeting Leviticus 19? I will if no one else will.

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New Member

I was in a state of shock when I watched the news story of this latest beauty queen sporting her tatoos!

I can tell you that I think it's a disgrace, but wondered if I am alone with this line of thinking?

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From your linked article ...

"Vail is also an M16 marksman, a bow hunter and a mechanic."​

Why don't you go to wherever the contest was and tell her that to her face?

I'm sure you'd be fine. She seems like a real lady, and I know she's an excellent soldier. So her tattoos don't bother me. Tats may not be the most acceptable of "personal accessories" but at least she doesn't have three pounds of metal handing from her various appendages. And as to the Leviticus 19 passage? Posted without real understanding.

In this passage God is speaking to his covenant people Israel. He is specifically telling them to stay far from the religious practices of the surrounding people groups. The prohibited religious practices in these verses include eating bloody meat, fortune telling, certain hair cuts related to the priests of false cults, cutting or marking the body for dead relatives, cultic prostitution and consulting psychics. All these practices would lead God’s beloved people away from Him and toward false gods that were not Gods at all. In the midst of this context we find the word translated “tattoo marks” in verse 28. It is important to note here that the context of this passage is not one of body décor but one of marking one’s self in connection with cultic religious worship.

The practice of making deep gashes on the face and arms and legs, in time of bereavement, was universal among the heathen, and it was deemed a becoming mark of respect for the dead, as well as a sort of propitiatory offering to the deities who presided over death and the grave. The Jews learned this custom in Egypt, and though weaned from it, relapsed in a later and degenerate age into this old superstition (Isaiah 15:2; Jeremiah 16:6 and 41:5) by tattooing, imprinting figures of flowers, leaves, stars, and other fanciful devices on various parts of their person. The impression was made sometimes by means of a hot iron, sometimes by ink or paint, as is done by the Arab females of the present day and the different castes of the Hindus. It it probable that a strong propensity to adopt such marks in honor of some idol gave occasion to the prohibition in this verse; and they were wisely forbidden. It was, in other words, idol worship. That is not generally associated with the practice of tattooing today, as many -- including servicemen and -women -- use the to pay tribute to life experiences or personal outlooks.

Colin Kaepernick, 49ers quarterback, has a lot of Bible verses and a cross tattooed on his arms and legs. So what? Teresa Vail displays, among her three tattoos, the Serenity Prayer. So what? It's a matter of personal choice, and that particular prayer has a lot of meaning for those who have struggled with addiction. Don't know that she has, but again, So what?

Don't like it? Don't look. Otherwise, don't worry about it. And no, I don't have any.

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Banned

Does anybody want to exegete this verse?Leviticus 19:28Do not cut your bodies for the dead, and do not mark your skin with tattoos. I am the Lord

Read the entire passage Lev 19, and then put this verse into context. What do you think it is saying in context.

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The context of the Scripture is that it was a cultural(sacrificial) law for the Jews. It is NOT a moral law. The Jews were told to not mark their bodies because other pagan cultures were doing so in worship of false gods.

Cutting appears to have been in the same grain if it were being done as an act of worship of a false god as opposed to the act of being circumcised.

They were supposed to be SEPARATE and SET APART from the pagan cultures.

It would stand to reason though that it would be a no-no for Christians today to get tattoos that amount to idolatry(false god worship) of anything.

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Banned

Why don't you go to wherever the contest was and tell her that to her face?

I'm sure you'd be fine. She seems like a real lady, and I know she's an excellent soldier. So her tattoos don't bother me. Tats may not be the most acceptable of "personal accessories" but at least she doesn't have three pounds of metal handing from her various appendages. And as to the Leviticus 19 passage? Posted without real understanding.

In this passage God is speaking to his covenant people Israel. He is specifically telling them to stay far from the religious practices of the surrounding people groups. The prohibited religious practices in these verses include eating bloody meat, fortune telling, certain hair cuts related to the priests of false cults, cutting or marking the body for dead relatives, cultic prostitution and consulting psychics. All these practices would lead God’s beloved people away from Him and toward false gods that were not Gods at all. In the midst of this context we find the word translated “tattoo marks” in verse 28. It is important to note here that the context of this passage is not one of body décor but one of marking one’s self in connection with cultic religious worship.

The practice of making deep gashes on the face and arms and legs, in time of bereavement, was universal among the heathen, and it was deemed a becoming mark of respect for the dead, as well as a sort of propitiatory offering to the deities who presided over death and the grave. The Jews learned this custom in Egypt, and though weaned from it, relapsed in a later and degenerate age into this old superstition (Isaiah 15:2; Jeremiah 16:6 and 41:5) by tattooing, imprinting figures of flowers, leaves, stars, and other fanciful devices on various parts of their person. The impression was made sometimes by means of a hot iron, sometimes by ink or paint, as is done by the Arab females of the present day and the different castes of the Hindus. It it probable that a strong propensity to adopt such marks in honor of some idol gave occasion to the prohibition in this verse; and they were wisely forbidden. It was, in other words, idol worship. That is not generally associated with the practice of tattooing today, as many -- including servicemen and -women -- use the to pay tribute to life experiences or personal outlooks.

Colin Kaepernick, 49ers quarterback, has a lot of Bible verses and a cross tattooed on his arms and legs. So what? Teresa Vail displays, among her three tattoos, the Serenity Prayer. So what? It's a matter of personal choice, and that particular prayer has a lot of meaning for those who have struggled with addiction. Don't know that she has, but again, So what?

Don't like it? Don't look. Otherwise, don't worry about it. And no, I don't have any.

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Well-Known Member

I was in a state of shock when I watched the news story of this latest beauty queen sporting her tatoos!

I can tell you that I think it's a disgrace, but wondered if I am alone with this line of thinking?

Click to expand...

It's not a disgrace nor a sin to have a tattoo. Some others here have explained the purpose of Leviticus 19 being a command to the nation of Israel to not align themselves with ungodliness or attributes of pagan nations.

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